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For a Thule kit it’s the bits which bolt onto the roof which are very difficult to get in the UK. There’s a chap called Ben Hau who imports them, I think he’s a bit of an Alphard expert, find him on Facebook and see if he has any in stock. The kit number is Thule Rapid System 1267, for 2003-08 models. You can then fit any of the Thule rapid system feet (loads on eBay, cheap) and any number of Thule standard or Evo bars but need to be at least 135cm width. Good luck.

Well I hope you like your local petrol stations as that’s two pretty thirsty cars you own there!

£330 fitted for a new item, perhaps even OE Toyota, direct from Japan, seems like a v good price. Reckon you’d pay about £100-200 for a used one, so that’s a good price. Fair play to kwik fit if they really can do it for that price.

Well I’ve got a 2005 (55 plate) v6, G spec, and that does have cruise control. Interesting to know there is a max speed on the CC, 70mph will satisfy me - not many stretches of mway in UK where you can cruise for faster than that anyway! Cheers.

If it goes air freight with FedEx or dhl etc then a week is doable, for sure, but that is gonna be mighty expensive overall. Have they given you a cost estimate? I would have just got a used one from eBay. Plenty of Alphard’s being broken for spare parts on eBay.

Found it …. 11 litres! Blimey

Well I’m just putting anything in and it seems to be running fine, about 30mpg too. My mate has been doing same with his for a couple of years too, we both have 3.0 v6 models.

Anyone know what volume of coolant required for the V6 Alphard? 1MZ-FE engine, late 2005 model. Cheers, Will

Can of electric contact cleaner for £3. I cleaned mine the other day and found a dead fly sitting on the sensor. Probably a job to add to the annual service schedule tbh. New MAF sensors can be had for about £40 and take 10 mins to fit, tops.

I think the reason why alphard hybrid insurance is so high is that the catalytic converters are top of the theft list. I don’t have an easy solution to that; see if fitting a cat-lok device Will lower the insurance .

Kettle? I doubt it, I think this is only a 100w socket which is really only any good for powering low-power-use electronic devices like phones, iPads etc. i removed the ones in mine and then removed the 12v dc to 100v ac inverter, so that now I was back to 12v dc, then I replaced the jap sockets with some oe fit dual USB’s. A bit more useful in my opinion.

Tricky. My advice is to track down some part numbers for the ones you want and cross-ref those against the ones you’re thinking of buying.

My guess is yes.

I’d be more worried about the quality of the item than any taxes. I assume it’s cheap - if it is then take a punt and hope that (a) quality is at least ok and (b) you don’t get stung for any extra charges. Neither point is guaranteed.

Item number 184804989761

Try Aviva, they came Up very good for me, about £230 on a ‘55 v6.

400 cranking amps is good, but total capacity at only 45aH is small. I’d go for 60 to 85 aH capacity. Tayna are good value, I’ve bought batteries from them in the past no probs. Yuasa is my preferred brand for my motorbikes and they have a good reputation. Bosch also good; definitely go for a decent recognised brand.

Not happened to me; I would guess that this is a suspension damper leaking oil . There are also some coolant pipes running in that area too, right at the top of the wheel arch under a rather flimsy plastic cover so it could be that corrosion has gone all the way through one of the pipes and now coolant is leaking. Check your coolant level in the engine bay too. Wear some Goggles when you’re poking around in the wheel arch as you don’t want to get any of those things (suspension damping fluid or coolant) in your eyes.

If you fit a tow bar, which could be handy anyway, then you could chose from any number of tow bar fixed bike racks. In my experience these tend to be more stable and sturdier than the door fixed ones too.

V6

I’m very grateful for this forum and grateful for Shawn asking the daft question which I am so daft I didn’t even know I should be asking!

Well I also did not know this! I have a 5 spd 2005 Alphard which I’ve had since 1st May this year (2017 import) and I’ve been driving in ‘4’ since I bought it; only done one long journey so doubt any harm has been done , but I agree, seems a bit silly to put full auto range and full range minus one on the same level on the gearbox, but this is my first ever auto vehicle so perhaps this is standard. How lucky I am to have gained this info now! Thanks, Will

If you’re just needing to touch up an appendage like a mirror or just a small panel so that colour match isn’t absolutely crucial then one option is to buy some vinyl wrap from eBay/Amazon etc and apply that yourself using a hairdryer to get the shrink.

I have done this on my 2005 alphard. You need to remove the console, locate the dc to ac inverter, remove or bypass that so your sockets now have 12v dc going into them and then switch the jap plugs for usbs (you can buy special inserts from eBay for about £6). the VTR is a direct video connect to the screens in the vehicle, either rear roof screen or front dash. Probably not much use given everyone has their own smartphone these days .

Something much cheaper and successful ... i removed one of my 100v AC plugs in centre console and converted to a double USB charger . To do this I removed the 12v DC to 100v AC inverter which I found located under the centre console .. and under a metal bracket .. and under a plastic heating duct. Ffs. Anyway, removed that, and then reconnected the plugs and now i had 12v coming into the centre console without a pesky inverter in the way. Found a double USB Toyota specific insert on eBay for a tenner, easy swap , looks neat except the insert is black and my centre console is kind of grey. The usb plugs are still switched on and off by the AC 100 switch in the dash. I still have one AC100 jap socket left in situ but has no power so I could add more usb if needed ... don’t see any need to do so yet.